Jacob Volkmann said he’ll never tell a reporter that he advised President Barack Obama to get a “glassectomy” – because he didn’t.

Now placed on administrative leave a second time by the school board that employs him as a high-school wrestling coach, Volkmann proclaims his employer has twisted his words.

“I wish the school board had gotten their facts right before they had a meeting with me,” the UFC lightweight today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

At the same time, Volkmann (14-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) acknowledges that those words have done what they were designed to do, which is bring him more attention.

“It’s like any article – you’ve got to make it stand out so people actually want to look into it,” he said. “Because if you’re on a prelim fight, nobody really cares about the prelim fights. So you’ve got to make a name for yourself, and I’m just trying to get my name out there so they actually put me on the main card or on TV. That’s where you actually start making strides in this game.”

In calling attention to himself, though, he’s also being kept from a job he does to pay back those who taught him how to wrestle. An assistant coach at White Bear Lake High School in White Bear Lake, Minn., Volkmann said the parent of a child on his team complained to school administrators following his post-fight interview at UFC 141, which took place Dec. 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The school’s administration placed him on indefinite leave pending the results of an investigation into his comments.

“The school board, they’re trying to please everybody, which you can never do,” Volkmann said. “There’s always going to be someone complaining. Someone complained, so they have to take that into account. But the fact is they got their information wrong. That’s what bothers me.”

Volkmann said the facts are this: He stood in the octagon after outpointing Efrain Escudero and said that he was coming for champ Frankie Edgar, and that Obama should call him to schedule a glassectomy. When UFC commentator Joe Rogan asked him what the term meant, he explained. (The “procedure” involves replacing your belly button with a mirror so you can see when your head is stuck where the sun doesn’t shine.)

That’s it.

“You can take it as you want, but I never said he needed a glassectomy,” Volkmann said, then laughed.

When asked of the difference between his actual words and their intention, Volkmann is serious. He said there’s a big difference between the two.

“It’s you say it or you don’t, and I never did say it,” he said. “And I’m sick of the reporters twisting the story around, like FOX 9 (in Minnesota). They turned the story around just to make it a little more exciting. That’s kind of crap.”

News outlets that reported on his recent snafu – and, he said, prompted school officials to punish him – did get one fact right: He plans to hire an attorney if he’s not taken off leave within two weeks.

“They’re just doing what their supposed to do,” he said. “I just think it’s unnecessary. I’m not there to teach the kids politics. I don’t bring that into the wrestling room. I’m there to teach the kids wrestling, and I’m just helping out. There’s no reason for it.”

It’s the second time Volkmann has been placed on administrative leave by the high school. Following a decision win over Antonio McKee at UFC 125, he told MMAFighting.com that “someone needs to knock some sense into that idiot,” referring to Obama. The suspension was lifted after two weeks on the condition that Volkmann agreed to a list of demands, including that he not engage in any “disrespectful name-calling” during interviews.

In a subsequent interview with MMAjunkie.com, Volkmann said he would keep taking the President to task until he got a meeting to air his grievances.

“Even though people don’t want me to do it, I don’t care,” he said.

But after this latest round of controversy, he’s rethinking that stance. From now on, he won’t bring up the President unless Rogan does.

And what of the UFC? Has the attention he’s gotten paid off with his sometime employer?

“Well, they haven’t cut me yet,” Volkmann said. “They’re not against me, but I don’t know if they’re for me.”

Volkmann has fought on the main card of a UFC event exactly once in seven fights for the promotion, so his concern could be warranted. But he also seems to know exactly why he doesn’t have the traction of other lightweights.

“The bigger picture for them is that my ground game isn’t very exciting,” he said. “The style of my fighting is not the most exciting. You’ve got people out there that all they want to see is blood or a knockout, and my style is a technical style. I’m going to stick with my style because that’s what wins, and some people don’t like that, and [those are] the ones that pay the bills for the UFC.

“I still need to work on my standup, and I have stuff on the ground that I’ve been working on. My main goal is to be in the UFC when that comes together. Then I can be a top contender.”

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